McKenna May, 4, is a little girl at the center of a controversy. McKenna has suffered from leukemia and was put through a long treatment that has thankfully proven successful. During her illness, she had two wishes: to be rid of cancer and to go to Disneyland. However, getting the first wish and led to the loss of the second wish. While Make-A-Wish Foundation granted the trip to Disney, her father William May of Toledo has forbidden her to go on the trip because she is no longer dying. While the mother, Whitney Hughs, has given her consent, both parents must sign for such a trip.
While I disagree with his view, William May is trying to do what he believes is the principled thing. He told his daughter that these funds should be used for children who are dying and that she is now well again. The reaction of the public against him has been extremely hostile but he insists that he is trying to do the right thing in his view for children who need the program. He believes the foundation was created to grant wishes for children who have less than six months to live and those children should receive this support.
I disagree with May because he is ignoring that the foundation itself says that his daughter still qualifies. She has gone through a terrible ordeal and was in fact dying from the disease. Thus, he appears to be making a point that the foundation itself rejects as a criteria.
In looking at the foundation’s website, it does refer to a child who currently has a life-threatening condition, but it seems sufficiently generalized to encompass a little girl who has had the condition:
Step 1: Referral
We rely on medical professionals, parents and children themselves for referrals. Children who have reached the age of 2½ and are under the age of 18 at the time of referral who have not received a wish from another wish-granting organization may be eligible for a wish.
Step 2: Medical eligibility
We determine a child’s medical eligibility with the help of the treating physician. To receive a wish, the child must be diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition – i.e., a progressive, degenerative or malignant condition that has placed the child’s life in jeopardy.
Step 3: Finding the true wish
We send one of our enthusiastic wish teams to learn the child’s one true wish. These passionate volunteers connect with wish children and help explore their imaginations for the experience that will delight and inspire them.
Step 4: Creating joy
Our wish granters create an unforgettable experience driven by the child’s creativity. It’s an incredible experience that enriches not just the lives of the children and their families, but often an entire community.
McKenna’s mom and grandma are now trying to get the little girl to Florida by asking for donations.
Susan McConnell, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish for Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, said that McKenna still qualifies and that she deserves the trip. Moreover, she noted that “[t]he doctors are the ones who determine if she is qualified.”
This little girl went through 15 spinal taps to make sure the cancer hadn’t spread, multiple chemotherapy treatments, skin burns and vomiting from the chemo, and steroid injections that compromised her immune system. She deserves the trip to Disney.
The mother and grandmother are irate with the father who they say went to few of the treatments and only secured visitation rights this year. He says that he wanted to be more involved but was kept away by his wife and the grandmother. However, he insists that his position is due to principle and not to anger. If so, I believe his stand is misplaced in light of the Foundation’s continued approval of the trip.
This would be a good moment for Disney to step in to support the trip. This is one little girl who needs to go the “Happiest Place on Earth.”
Source: Sentinel
“After going through two years of cancer treatment that included spinal taps, chemotherapy and hospitalizations because of reactions to the treatments, …
“She lost the ability to walk and talk and had to be retaught,” mother states.
This little girl wants to see Mickey Mouse and the Princesses. Being 4 years old she may want to pretend for a few hours out of a couple of days that she is a Princess.
“Online donations topped $11,000 on Friday. …..
McKenna’s parents never married, but both had to agree to the Make-A-Wish trip.”
http://news.yahoo.com/donations-send-ohio-cancer-patient-disney-143917350.html?_esi=1
I apologize. Disney probably will step up to the plate.
Matt,
I damn well agree with you….you should have included the rest of the post….. They are both being childish….. And the victim is the child…… Got it…
The child and mother do want to go to Disney…. They are doing fund raising…… As was suggested….Disney should step up to the plate…..
Anonymously Yours 1, July 20, 2012 at 10:55 am
Where in any article does it indicate that the parties were married….. I think the father is wrong….. This trip is supposed to be for the whole family….. I wonder if he was excluded from it just like he was excluded during the medical procedures……
Mike, you are correct this reeks…. And the only victim in any parenting dispute is the child….. While the parents act childish….
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Doesn’t matter whether he was excluded or not. It’s not the four year old kid’s fault if he was excluded. Let her go to Disneyland.
I have to agree with Mike S. and leejcarroll. This smells of payback due to divorce or separation issues. If the organization ok’s it, his thoughts are irrelevant. This guy should stay away from the child, for her benefit.
Well, Hell, ask the KID whether she wants to go or not and if she says YES then she should GO.
Damn!
Where in any article does it indicate that the parties were married….. I think the father is wrong….. This trip is supposed to be for the whole family….. I wonder if he was excluded from it just like he was excluded during the medical procedures……
Mike, you are correct this reeks…. And the only victim in any parenting dispute is the child….. While the parents act childish….
It definitely sounds to me as if this poor child has been the pawn in a nasty custody battle and is still paying the price. I highly suspect her father doesn’t want her going on the Disney trip simply because he believes that if she goes, her mother and grandmother will be going with her, and if he has to deny her the pleasure in order to deny them the pleasure, then by golly he will do it. Only he’ll make up a high-minded excuse like “She’s doing fine now, she’s not dying anymore, Make-A-Wish should spend the money on a kid who’s dying.” Baloney. Make-A-Wish has its criteria and this girl meets them. She’s been through hell and come out the other side. If going to Disneyland is her dream, let her go to Disneyland. And if she’s going to get to go with Mom and Grandma and not Dad, so be it. He’s just going to have to suck it up. Parents who really love their kids want what’s best for their kids, not what’s best for them personally.
It’s like the Biblical story of Solomon. The king knew which woman was the real mother because she was the one willing to give the baby up rather than see it be killed in the name of “fairness.” If this man really loves his daughter, he will stuff his resentment of the mother and grandmother under his hat and let her go to Disney.
This sounds like divorce acrimony directed at the child. He has no principle here, they said she qualifies. Whatever hisreasons they are certainly (apparently) not as he states.
having been to Disney World, I would say the child is too young to appreciate it and they should get a pool which will provide many years of pleasure for the little girl.
Make a Wish is a great organization. The child should be allowed to go. But 4 is awfully young and she probably wont remember much of it.
I wonder why the marriage failed in the first place, perhaps it failed on principal.
Cynic that I am I suspect this is the blowback from a difficult divorce and a custody battle. The child is in the middlle, as usual.
I understand what the father is trying to do. I suppose if it were me, I’d have to ask Make-A-Wish a number of times, “Are you SURE this is okay?”.
As long as the organization is fine with it, I don’t see why not. This little girl probably went through a lot of treatment that was likely very hard on her. If Make-A-Wish still wants to fund it, then I say go for it.
Would Dad agree to it if he was the one taking her?
Tex and I were contacted about this child’s situation a couple days ago by someone who lives in the area and knows all parties involved.
Suffice it to say there should be no problem in making a donation.
quite the dream dad there.
Doctors will sometimes refer to 5-year cure rate or a 10- or more year cure rate. What they really mean by this is a 5- or more year remission rate. The longer the remission time lasts, the greater the possibility that the cancer actually has been cured, but there are cases of cancer recurrence many, many years after remission begins. So if the doctor says there is a 95 percent 5-year cure/remission rate for a particular cancer, it means that after five years, 95 percent of people with that cancer will still be in remission (meaning that you have an extremely high likelihood of not having a recurrence for at least five years). With people living longer and longer, doctors can now often give remission rates for 10, 15 or even 20 years. In many ways, the approach to most cancer treatment is to make it a chronic disease that lasts for many years.
So can we ever really talk about a cancer cure? In general, the answer is no. Practically speaking, however, the odds of a recurrence may be so low that the person is essentially cured. To put it another way, depending on your age, the doctor may tell you that the odds of your dying of cancer are lower than are your odds of dying of something else. Let’s say the doctor says there is an 80 percent remission rate for your cancer at 10 years. But at your age and health status, there is a 90 percent chance of death due to cardiovascular disease within that 10-year time. You could say your cancer was cured, but it wouldn’t necessarily be a very joyous occasion.
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Four years old and she can’t go to Disney. William May is doing this to get revenge against the mother and grandmother. Bad daddy. No more visitation rights.
While I agree in principle….. I disagree in theory….. She should be able to go…..